Recently, an SOC device in which various circuits such as an RF front-end circuit, a baseband circuit, a logic test circuit and the like are on one chip becomes increased. Accordingly, a demand for a testing system capable of performing various tests corresponding to the SOC device such as an RF test, a baseband test, a logic test and the like with high precision becomes strong.
FIG. 1 shows the configuration of a conventional SOC testing system. In the conventional SOC testing system, a plurality of via holes 12 provided in a performance board 10 and a plurality of pogo pins 16 provided on an upper surface of a test fixture 14 are coupled with each other mechanically and electrically. In addition, a plurality of via holes 18 provided on the lower surface of the test fixture 14 is coupled to a test head of a testing apparatus mechanically and electrically. Wiring patterns 20 provided on the performance board 10 allows a device under test 22 and the via holes 12 to be coupled with each other, and coaxial cables 24 provided in the test fixture 14 and the via holes 18 allow the pogo pins 16 and the testing apparatus to be coupled with each other, so that the device under test 22 and the testing apparatus can be coupled with each other. Further, the testing apparatus supplies test signals to the device under test 22 via the performance board 10 and the test fixture 14 to perform the logic test or the like.
FIG. 2 shows the configuration of a conventional RF testing system. In the conventional RF testing system, an RF test head 28 mounted on a performance board 26 and a test fixture 30 are electrically coupled with each other by coaxial cables 32 such as semi-rigid cables and coaxial connectors 34 such as SMA (Sub Miniature type A) connectors. In addition, the test fixture 30 and a testing apparatus are electrically coupled with each other by coaxial connectors 36 and coaxial cables 38. And, the testing apparatus supplies test signals to the device under test 22 via the coaxial cables and the coaxial connectors to perform the RF test or the like.
In addition, in order to automatically couple a prober mounting the device under test and the test head of the testing apparatus each other using the blind-mate connector, a floating mechanism of the blind-mate connector has been proposed (c.f. Japanese Patent Applications Publication Nos. 1998-106677 and 1998-107100).
In the SOC testing system shown in FIG. 1, although the performance board 10 is easily attached to or detached from the test fixture 14 so that the operability is good, in case of the RF test there is a problem such as a performance error caused by the frequency characteristics of the via holes 12 or the wiring patterns 20, the cross torque between the wiring patterns 20, the drawing-around of the wiring patterns 20, a performance error caused by the terminal process of the coaxial cables 24 and/or the like. In addition, in the RF testing system as shown in FIG. 2, although the device under test 28 and the testing apparatus are electrically coupled with each other by the coaxial cables and the coaxial connectors so that the frequency characteristics are good, there is a problem that the operability in attaching or detaching the performance board 10 to or from the test fixture 14 is bad because of the coaxial connectors 34, e.g. the SMA connectors.
Accordingly, it is an object of the present invention to provide a performance board and a testing system, which is capable of overcoming the above drawbacks accompanying the conventional art. The above and other objects can be achieved by combinations described in the independent claims. The dependent claims define further advantageous and exemplary combinations of the present invention.